Almost a year later and I've managed to rope a few friends into trying the game out. We have a little league going, but it's a very slow game. I think the box said 90mins, but it's more like 4 hours per game. The games are fun, but we do wish there was a map expansion so we can have all our friends playing simultaneously rather than 1v1 and the rest watch or play another game.

If your group is interested then maybe pool your money and trawl the internet and buy a cheap core box, or at least the map and cards you need for a separate game. Im sure there are a few people who only wanted the minis and eBayed the rest.